Seriously I have to agree with Mike Nelson on this. It contributes nothing important to the Star Wars mythology, and in many places it even hurts it. Why is the pod race so crucial to the star wars universe? Do we see it again, or is this just Lucas revisting chase scenes from Return of the Jedi?Um... it was an action scene. It was eye candy. Why exactly does everything have to contribute to Star Wars Mythology? It is an action movie after all. I dont know about you, but I usually expect an action scene or two in an action movie.

For some reason Lucas had to go out of his way to explain how Jedis are one with the force cause of midichlorians. Thank you Lucas, at one point most people were perfectly fine with a spiritual connection, like how in martial art films the good guy has the edge cause their soul is pure, etc. but apparently that dream is dead. Lucas also had to go out of his way to explain the origins of both C3P0 and R2D2. With C3PO's origins more ludicrous. Exactly how small of a galaxy is this? Note to Lucas... change the opening text to In a small galaxy far far away.Yes, you are absolutely right about C3P0. Because coincidences never ever happen in real life, and of course besides that Star Wars was a completely realistic film. The movie would have been much better if there had been no connections to the original trilogy!

Did anyone know that Queen Amadala was elected, and she is 14 years old? Naboo is a pretty stupid planet then.Because every 14 year old is a moron, of course. BTW I'm sure any 14 year old would do much better running America than what we have right now. I'd say Naboo is pretty smart compared to us.

Good things pointed out by Kevin and Mike is that the force was meerly used as a conveneince to the story. Kevin singing part of the famous Madam Butterfly aria. The absurdity in giving R2D2 a medal for bravery, and the ridiculous constant costume changes Queen Amadama.Whatever. It's a movie get over it. BTW were you expecting the force to not be in the movie or something? That would have been a pretty crappy Star Wars movie.

The music, I'm sorry but John Williams emphsizes stuff where music wasn't even needed. There is nothing grand, or operatic about fixing a jet engine, or Anakin showing his friends his room. Are those scenes where someone can think back and say "Oh John is using the Anakin can fix things motif"?The point was that Qui Gon Jinn was realizing what a prodigy Anakin was that he could fix an engine by himself. Although I do have to agree on this one the music did swell up a bit too much a few times.

And as good as the special effects were, they were only good back in 1999, for some reason digital effects just look awful faster than the previous effects. So we can't even say that the implementation of special effects were monumental.That criticism makes no sense at all. The special effects suddenly weren't good when this came out because they are dated now? Do you expect films that were made a while ago to just randomly get better special effects over time? So every movie made more than five years ago that has any special effects is suddenly a bad movie?

Besides Jar Jar who was really annoying, I like this movie. I never understand why it gets so much crap from people. And BTW, because I hear this all the time, saying this movie ruins the franchise is an incredibly stupid statement. So Empire Strikes Back is now a bad movie because you didn't like Phantom Menace? If it's bad it only ruins itself.

Wow. Your first post used to defend Episode 1. Bold man. You are not alone. I too enjoy Episode 1 (Or at least I don't think it's the worst thing ever commited to film). And I think WE are alone around here. :^) Welcome aboard!

That criticism makes no sense at all. The special effects suddenly weren't good when this came out because they are dated now? Do you expect films that were made a while ago to just randomly get better special effects over time? So every movie made more than five years ago that has any special effects is suddenly a bad movie?

I expect a slow exponential decay of its asthetic qualities, I also expect that films made similarity afterwards would use it as a model.

Star Wars (1977) did just that because there were some physicalities in some of the effects, especially the very simple use of moving a camera through a model. It was state of the art for 1977 standards, and I dare say it was very good up until the early 90's when movies like Jurassic Park came out. A 20 year track record is very good.

Just as I would say the same thing about King Kong 1939 up until Star Wars. Everything used King Kong as a model, and it was King Kong(Harryhausen fans I am sorry to say that) that was the best at it for a very long time.

But Phantom Menace looks horrible, to say that the effects get old with time is an understatement, this has the same decay as an atom of californium. There isn't much to say about Phantom Menace in this department, because where Star Wars was indeed a new model for special effects, Phantom Menace was not for the cgi generation.

Seriously I have to agree with Mike Nelson on this. It contributes nothing important to the Star Wars mythology, and in many places it even hurts it. Why is the pod race so crucial to the star wars universe? Do we see it again, or is this just Lucas revisting chase scenes from Return of the Jedi?Um... it was an action scene. It was eye candy. Why exactly does everything have to contribute to Star Wars Mythology? It is an action movie after all. I dont know about you, but I usually expect an action scene or two in an action movie.

For some reason Lucas had to go out of his way to explain how Jedis are one with the force cause of midichlorians. Thank you Lucas, at one point most people were perfectly fine with a spiritual connection, like how in martial art films the good guy has the edge cause their soul is pure, etc. but apparently that dream is dead. Lucas also had to go out of his way to explain the origins of both C3P0 and R2D2. With C3PO's origins more ludicrous. Exactly how small of a galaxy is this? Note to Lucas... change the opening text to In a small galaxy far far away.Yes, you are absolutely right about C3P0. Because coincidences never ever happen in real life, and of course besides that Star Wars was a completely realistic film. The movie would have been much better if there had been no connections to the original trilogy!

Did anyone know that Queen Amadala was elected, and she is 14 years old? Naboo is a pretty stupid planet then.Because every 14 year old is a moron, of course. BTW I'm sure any 14 year old would do much better running America than what we have right now. I'd say Naboo is pretty smart compared to us.

Good things pointed out by Kevin and Mike is that the force was meerly used as a conveneince to the story. Kevin singing part of the famous Madam Butterfly aria. The absurdity in giving R2D2 a medal for bravery, and the ridiculous constant costume changes Queen Amadama.Whatever. It's a movie get over it. BTW were you expecting the force to not be in the movie or something? That would have been a pretty crappy Star Wars movie.

The music, I'm sorry but John Williams emphsizes stuff where music wasn't even needed. There is nothing grand, or operatic about fixing a jet engine, or Anakin showing his friends his room. Are those scenes where someone can think back and say "Oh John is using the Anakin can fix things motif"?The point was that Qui Gon Jinn was realizing what a prodigy Anakin was that he could fix an engine by himself. Although I do have to agree on this one the music did swell up a bit too much a few times.

And as good as the special effects were, they were only good back in 1999, for some reason digital effects just look awful faster than the previous effects. So we can't even say that the implementation of special effects were monumental.That criticism makes no sense at all. The special effects suddenly weren't good when this came out because they are dated now? Do you expect films that were made a while ago to just randomly get better special effects over time? So every movie made more than five years ago that has any special effects is suddenly a bad movie?

Besides Jar Jar who was really annoying, I like this movie. I never understand why it gets so much crap from people. And BTW, because I hear this all the time, saying this movie ruins the franchise is an incredibly stupid statement. So Empire Strikes Back is now a bad movie because you didn't like Phantom Menace? If it's bad it only ruins itself.

^Is a 14-year-old dumass who, like me, will not realize how stupid he was at 14 until he hits about 21. Also needs to ask God for a sense of humor as sort of a package deal with puberty.

As far as the rest of the thread, yeah, Episode 1 was one of the biggest dissappointments of all time. While the original Star Wars trilogy was gritty and epic, the new one is cartoony, with detestable characters and HUGE leaps in logic. The defining characteristic of the differences, though, is plain and simple.

^In the original Star Wars trilogy, a smoothe-talking, wise-cracking, cynical, BA guy practically steals the show and definitely gets the girl.

^In the prequal trilogy, a whiney wannabe with no self-control hogs the screen from Ewan McGregor, yet still gets to bang Natalie Portman.

As for Luke and Leia being siblings, that was decided before they even started filming "A New Hope." Criticize if you want, but Star Wars was originally one script, and most of the plot twists were decided long before filming started. One of his biggest mistakes, however, (IMO, anyway) was replacing the Wookie population of Endor with Ewoks.

Mostly agreed, but I think Han Solo becomes almost caricature of himself in Jedi, whereas Anakin is almost bearable through a sizable chunk of Sith (provided Natalie Portman is not in the same room and either of them are speaking to each other).

oh im not denying i was an idiot in my youth, i still think im an idiot NOW, but once youve been president your hooked up for life. It may not be living as a millionare but the gov. isnt going to let a president starve to death lol. Im not even saying i would do a good job as president

I could take C3P0 and R2D2's origins in stride, where it not for the fact that in Ep 3, they end saying that "the droids are going to have their memories erased" which seems an irritating retcon. I mean, why bother introducing them if you're just going to nullify the events of the story?

I'd like to point out the phallacy of the opening fight scene. If he knew the jedi were dead, why send in droids? If he didn't, then why not check to see? Either way, the film didn't explain how the heroes survived.

The core is another plothole. What core? They didn't go through the core, they just went through a large tunnel with aquatic things.

When I first saw this movie, I didn't see why people were so upset, nor did I find Jar Jar annoying, although I also didn't find him terribly amusing. He was just there, like a light bulb or grass. Now, however, I am older, wiser, and have lost some of my bad movie tolerance that came with youthful indifference. I understand the logical phallacies that hurt this movie, and the general elements that make it awful.

I could take C3P0 and R2D2's origins in stride, where it not for the fact that in Ep 3, they end saying that "the droids are going to have their memories erased" which seems an irritating retcon. I mean, why bother introducing them if you're just going to nullify the events of the story?

I'd like to point out the phallacy of the opening fight scene. If he knew the jedi were dead, why send in droids? If he didn't, then why not check to see? Either way, the film didn't explain how the heroes survived.

The core is another plothole. What core? They didn't go through the core, they just went through a large tunnel with aquatic things.

When I first saw this movie, I didn't see why people were so upset, nor did I find Jar Jar annoying, although I also didn't find him terribly amusing. He was just there, like a light bulb or grass. Now, however, I am older, wiser, and have lost some of my bad movie tolerance that came with youthful indifference. I understand the logical phallacies that hurt this movie, and the general elements that make it awful.

First off, when you think about it, Threepio is probably the only one who needed to get his memory erased. Artoo probably wouldn't have trouble keeping his role in galactic history a secret.

Sending in the armed droids at the beginning of the first movie is probably actually one of the smarter moves the Trade Federation guys made in the movie. I've seen enough movies to know that you never assume that your enemy is defeated until you see his cold, lifeless, decapitated corpse. And even then, you should probably fire a couple of rounds into his body, and have it thrown into an incinerator just in case.

Also, maybe the core of Naboo is filled with water. Ever think of that? Okay, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's George Lucas's universe, and if he wants a planet with a core that's made of water, then he can have it. Alternatively, it could be that "the Core" is just the gungans' name for the system of underwater tunnels that connect the different parts of the planet with each other. And they didn't bother to explain it because it wasn't really relevant to the rest of the movie.